1James sat up in Dumbledore's office, running wearied hands through his mop of hair. Dumbledore was taking full advantage of the break in James' schedule. And put his strategist to work.

Maybe it was James' understanding of Quidditch that gave him the insight into the enemy's mind, but James was great at evaluating battle strategies and always okayed a plan before it was put into action.

James was becoming exhausted though. He'd been trying for hours to decipher the plan that he'd been given to assess, but he couldn't make it work.

"And you can't give me a couple more guys?" James asked Dumbledore pleadingly. He didn't see how the plan could possibly work.

Professor McGonogall had come to see Dumbledore and had interrupted this scene. She'd been having a problem with escalating quarrels between the houses, and needed to discuss what to do about it.

But she hadn't left immediately after settling her business. She had never before witnessed James sort through plans with Dumbledore, and she found it quite interesting.

"What if we reassigned the front line, splitting it between the west door and the side defense?" Dumbledore suggested.

James' tongue slid back and forth across his top lip in concentration.

"No," he finally responded. "That weakens the northern attack because of the attention the extra enforcement would draw. We'd lose fourteen men in the process."

James leaned back in his chair and stretched his long arms into the air, then took a sip of coffee. He was beginning to feel like there was nothing he could do, when a sudden idea struck him.

"Wait," James slowly bent over the plans to reevaluate. "You could assign a middle guard that will free up two guys from each defense, then assign them to the northern attack group. Four guys will hardly attract attention, but they'll be sure to do some damage before they can be countered, opening the path for the second wave to come in.

Dumbledore smiled, but James just stared into space for a moment, trying to work out every detail before finalizing the plans.

"Yeah," James finally agreed, "give it to my dad. It'll work."

He wearily took a sip of hot coffee and sighed heavily.

Professor McGonogall smiled. She had no idea that James did all of this work until about a month ago, yet apparently he'd been working like this since seventh year.

It had started when James had been sent to see Dumbledore about a disturbance he'd caused, and had noticed some plans on his desk. James had suggested some changes, and they'd been successful, so James had worked ever since, usually as an alternative to detention.

But James wasn't as thrilled as Dumbledore about the plans he'd just approved.

"Tell him that an eastern line of seven guys would really help him out, but that they can't come from the other groups, they'll have to be extra guys. Tell him that if he staggers them then they won't attract as much attention, and they'll be able to offer the general attack force more time, and reduce casualties. Tell him that it won't work without at least five and that I'll go for him if I need to."

This seemed to please James a lot more, and he rolled the finalized plans. He put a seal of wax on them and handed them proudly to Dumbledore.

James looked out the window and realized that it was almost dark. He hadn't meant to spend so much time up at the school, but the news of the morning had given him the time.

He really needed to get home. Lily had been so sick that morning, and he'd stayed with her only until she fell asleep. Felling ashamed of himself for having left her, he quickly began to gather his things.

"Do you mind running these to your father?" Dumbledore asked James.

James gave him an apologetic look. "Lily," he explained simply.

"Oh, yes," Dumbledore apologized. "I forgot. Was she feeling any better?"

"I wish I knew," James guiltily admitted. "She fell asleep and I came up here. But she was okay enough to sleep, so..."

Dumbledore nodded as James trailed off. Then slyly winked at James, who gave him an utterly confused look as he shrugged on his heavy coat.

James headed out the door.

"I've been hearing rumors," McGonogall whispered.

"Oh?" Dumbledore responded.

"Do you know if Lily is expecting?" she asked.

"That boy is clueless," he answered. "All of his friends know."

I'm not against posting the rest of the story, but if nobody is reading, I'm just going to stop. It is a lot of a hassle to re-type this if people don't care, so we'll see.